Caprione crime family
The Caprione Family '('Pronounced KAP-REE-OWN) is an Italian-American Mafia (La Cosa Nostra) organized crime family based in Florida and partially Alabama. It is a part of the Florida Four. It was formed in 1922 by Giacomo Antonio "Jackie Horns" Caprione, the great-grandfather of current boss, Robert Caprione. It is considered to be the most powerful crime family in the Florida Four. History 'Origin' In sometime in the winter in 1918, an Italian immigrant from Sicily named Giacomo Caprione formed a gang of street thugs in what is now Coral Way with some of his friends who were also immigrants. These people included Gaspare Puletti, Angelo Verazo, Michele DiBrano, Vincent Colieri, Josephino Asatto, and Pasquale Gurrente. After pulling small-time jobs like truck thefts and car-jackings, Caprione formed alliances with 3 other Italian-American street groups with the promise of high-up positions and steady profits if Caprione was in charge. In 1922, the 4 groups (of about 55 members) formed the Caprione Crime Family with Caprione as the boss, Puletti as the consigliere, and Mario Vessari as the underboss. The family specified in thefts, murders, burglaries, smugglings, gambling, and extortion. The family started to get in touch and do business with gangs in surrounding cities and even some in surrounding states. Overall in its first three decades, under Giacomo Caprione, it fared well with other gangs. 'The Caprione Power War' See: Caprione Power War In 1938, a capo named John DeVano questioned Caprione's authority and started talking behind his back. Carlo Traza, a soldier who talked to DeVano frequently, informed Caprione about this. Caprione had a sitdown with DeVano trying to sort the dispute, but after DeVano tried to control Caprione's rackets and conspired to kill Caprione, Caprione had him killed. On October 11, 1938, John DeVano was killed outside of his home by two gunmen. Afterwards, two notable capos Francis Ciccone and Ignacio Fuchili joined up with about 30 soldiers and Capriones consigliere to kill Caprione, which led to a two year-long war which left 14 members dead. 'Aftermath of War and Mencerraliano Family' After the war was over, The Caprione family was in a state of disrepair. The consigliere void was quickly filled by trusted capo Anthony "Tony" Gaddo. The family went back to controlling gambling rackets and underground arms trade. It was at this time in 1940 that a hitman named Paolo Ostevago was introduced to Caprione, and Nicodemo Sfraldi. Ostevago would late go to become boss of the family in 1965. In 1942, Giacomo Caprione was introduced to Alberto Mencerraliano, a local mob boss of a fairly new family that bore his name. Both of the families specialized in gambiling rackets, so they formed an alliances and did business with each other. The year after, Mencerraliano started to take over the gambling rackets. Caprione felt that since they had more power over them originally, that they deserved full control. This sent Mencerraliano into a rage. To send a message to the Caprione family, Mencerraliano sanctioned a hit on Antonio "Little Tony" Dettente, a soldier in the Caprione family that controlled sports betting. On May 18, 1943 as Dettente stepped out his home, Angelo Batti a hired gun for the then-Mencerraliano family, shot Dettente twice with a double-barrelled shotgun. This murder now set Giacomo in a rage. He felt that the fairly new Mencerraliano family was invading not only the rackets, but the entire state. Sometime in February of 1944, the administration for the Caprione family (Giacomo Caprione, Anthony Gaddo, Nicodemo Sfraldi) met with the Mencerraliano administration (Alberto Mencerraliano, Henry Gorgamo, Carlo Uceretti) at a bar in Miami. The two families agreed that the Capriones would control gambling rackets, and that the Mencerralianos could specialize in extortion of businesses. Alberto Mencerraliano died the next year of brain cancer. 'Death of Giacomo Caprione and Power Vacuum' On July 8, 1959, Giacomo Antonio Caprione died of a heart attack at Miami Valley Hospital. Family, friends, and mafiosi were devastated, but at the same time terrified. Since Caprione had been leader for so long and led the family into a stable, powerful criminal organization, many thought that it would now go under, as no one had the capability to maintain the power once showed by Giacomo Caprione. There was rumor that Joseph "Joey" Francisco, the familie's consigliere was going to try to become boss. Joseph was a formerly a captain before being promoted. When he was a captain however, he could not control his crew of soldiers, which other members took note of. Since he felt that he was already the boss of the family, Francisco "demoted" captain John LoCosta, who was competing for the spot of boss. Seeing that he was obviously not a good nominee for boss, underboss Rocco Russafino ordered his murder. Sometime in October 1959, Francisco entered the backseat of his car when his driver, Cristofano Revice turned around and shot him three times in the head. The body was then disposed of. Although Russafino was on LoCosta's side, John LoCosta was seen as power-hungry and ruthless. Two Caprione capos, Dominic Ederbe and Peter Corrado were trying to take power. Both were seen by other members as good captains and would probably become good leaders. The supposed plan was that Corrado would become boss, and Ederbe would become consigliere. Seeing this, John LoCosta ordered three of his soldiers, Antonino Galante, Bernard Conelli, and George Caccaro to perpetrate the hits on the two captains. Although the three agreed with Ederbe and Corrado's plan to take over, they had to follow LoCosta's orders. On November 23, 1959 Ederbe and Corrado met at Corrado's home to discuss their plan further. Galante, Horrocio, and Caccaro threw molotov cocktails threw an open window of Corrado's house, killing Ederbe, Corrado, and Corrado's wife Juliana. It was after this hit, that Russafino and Cristofano Pola (the new consigliere after Joseph Francisco's death) saw that LoCosta had to be stopped before he caused another civil war. Russafino and Pola summoned an Sicilian hitman named Gino Palantis to kill LoCosta. On January 2, 1960 captain Philip Domina and soldier Andrew Catuso (who later turned informant) met with LoCosta at Domina's bar 5 hours it opened. Domina sat LoCosta down and told him that he wanted him to meet someone. It was then that Gino Palantis came out from the backroom and shook LoCosta's hand. LoCosta then turned around and started talking to Domina. It was then that Palantis pulled out a hangun and shot LoCosta once in his temple. The three then took an hour and a half, according to Catuso's testimony, to cut up Domina's body, clean the blood with peroxide, and dump the remains, which were wrapped up in a tarp, in a hole. It was after this murder, in March 1960 that Rocco Russafino was took the position of boss. 'Russafino Regime' When it was finally decided that Rocco Russafino would rule in 1962, the Caprione controlled the south-part of the city of Tampa. This would generate about $870,000 (about $6,000,000 in today's value of the U.S. dollar) over the next two years. It was during this time, that the family came into contact with a smart and wealthy thief named Charles Suartieri. Suartieri would later became a capo in the family. It was also during this time that Russafino was charged for one count of assault and one count of attempted murder, and was brought to court. The trial went on for about five months, and a powerful captain named Salvatore "Big Boomer" Teleme was put into the position as acting boss because even though Russafino was free and could still rule and control, he felled he had enough to deal with. Two witnesses eventually bailed when they learned of Russafino's position in the Florida underworld. The case was dismissed. Russafino brought new gambling rackets and other low-level easily intimidated business into the question, boasting new business operations for the family. Once business was a pizzeria called Gennaro's Pizza. After extorting the pizzeria (and mos businesses on the same street) under the pretense of security and protection, Russafino and his colleges became friendly with the owner, David Zacardo. In about 2 months of extorting the business, Russafino, Cristofano Pola, David D'Aforo and other Caprione family members were doing business out of the back room. The family would sneak in guns from Italy in the same truck as the delivered cheese, which would come every week. Although Zacardo did not want this, he was under a contract with the family. After Russafino's death in 1964 from kidney failure. 'Iaducci Indictments' In 1984, a trusted soldier who was on his way to become a capo, named David Iaducci was arrested on drug charges which, if he was convicted, could land him twenty five years in prison. Iaducci was only 31 years old, and his wife was pregnant with his baby. Seeing that his family could not remain stable if he went to jail, and that the mob would also ridicule him for dealing with drugs, which was forbidden in the Caprione family, Iaducci agreed to testify against members of the family and enter WITSEC for the sake of his family. On August 12, 1984 David Iaducci stood on the witness stand and caused the conviction of thirty eight mobsters (including Vincent Belgino, Philip Nestra, and Peter Orvo, who were the administrative leaders of the family). He also revealed many position of mafiosi in the family. Iaducci only served two years in prison and moved with family to Houston, Texas under the name Daniel Fischer. In 1990, Iaducci was found dead outside of his house with multiple gun shots in his body and a dead rat taped in his mouth, proving that it was done by mobsters to signify that he was a rat. 'Lisona Regime and Uprise' After the indictments and Nestra's arrest, the family agreed to appoint John "Ginny" Lisona as the new boss. Lisona, who was 48 at the time of his appointment of boss, was a trusted capo who was going to be promoted to underboss after Peter Orvo (who was arrested during the indictments) was scheduled to retire. The boss quickly got to work controlling gambling rackets, and a new method of mail fraud. He was supposedly trying to get the family out of the number two spot of powerful families in Florida, and to get it in first. Lisona was seen as a ruthless and violent boss, as he usually murdered anyone that conflicted with him. This brought to attention when the Irish-American street gang The Irish Hand was formed.Considering the families power, the Hand wished to form an alliance. Lisona tried to extort Irish Hand leader Braiden McCollen for protection for the whole gang. When McCollen declined the offer, Lisona had him killed by Thomas Nolli, a hitman and soldier for the family. This put heat between the two organizations. Lisona did well as a powerful, feared and wealthy mob boss though. He assigned two soldiers, Benito Vatini and Dominic DeMoco to attend training for the Miami Police Department to infiltrate the institution. The two got the jobs and fed information every week to Lisona, who would bend his operations so that authorities could not stick charges on him. After four years of the operation, Lisona pulled the two out of the operation. Seeing as they were used to their full ability, and that the operation was over, Lisona had the two killed, so that they could not testify against anyone. 'Conflict with Robert Caprione' Lisona was not seen as a proper leader in the eyes of Robert Caprione, the great grandson of Giacomo Caprione. Caprione was a powerful capo who controlled a crew of about 20 soldiers and had 100 associates working and paying him. Caprione saw Lisona as power-hungry and that he didn't care for the well being of the family. Other capos and soldiers disagreed with Lisona also. The event that sent Caprione over the edge was the murder of Richard "Little Richie" Evoso. Evoso was Robert Caprione's godson, who owed $4,000 to John Lisona. Evoso was reminded many times to pay his dues, and Caprione even told him to pay up to avoid fatal consequences. Caprione then went to Lisona to talk about Evoso's payments. They agreed to give Evoso one more week to get the money, as he had already gave Lisona $3,000. Evoso told Lisona ahead of time that he would have the money in two weeks, which Lisona said was alright. Although at the one week mark, when Lisona knew that Evoso didn't have the money, he sent two capos to kill Evoso. Once Caprione learned of this, he was outraged. This combined with all the other flaws of Lisona's ruthless rule, contributed to his death. 'Death of John Lisona' After about two months of organizing the perfect hit, Caprione organized the hit on Lisona. On September 29, 1996 a hired gun named Vincent Poloza dressed as a police officer, stopped Lisona as he pulled out of his driveway, and questioned him about a robbery. When Lisona looked out the other window, Poloza pulled out a .38 revolver, and shot all six shots into Lisona's head. Lisona was killed immediatley and Robert Caprione then took over as boss. 'Current Position' With Robert Caprione as family boss, the family rose back to its previous spot as the most powerful Mafia family in Florida. Caprione forced former family consigliere Giovanni "Clowny" Ragassi to step down after he started ruling, but instead of giving him his spot as a soldier, Ragassi was made a capo and given his own crew, which was made up of other soldiers from other crews. Caprione's childhood friend Guiseppe "Joe" Cici was made the consigliere. Underboss Frank Virri resumed his position after his one year sentence in 1997. At the time, capo Guiseppe "Zep" Accelandi was made acting underboss. Current Leadership 'Administration:' *Boss: Robert "The Auditor" Caprione *Underboss: Frank "Frankie" Virri *Consigliere: Guiseppe "Joe" Cici (Childhood friend of Robert Caprione) *Organizzatore: Gerardo "Rudy" Allessandra - The organizzatore is a position in the administration adopted by the Caprione family in 1977, that organizes sitdowns. 'Capos:' 'Florida Faction:' *Salvatore Tussrio *Walter Orrenani *Guiseppe Accelandi *Niccolo Coscapola (Childhood friend of Robert Caprione) *Ronald Biabocche *Cesare Grocche (Childhood friend of Robert Caprione) *Alphonse DeSanto *Santo Diamo 'Alabama Faction:' *Enzo DeAmari *'' Acring Capo: Joseph "Johnny" Sarbicce'' *Carlo "Little Carlo" Jacobo Jr. *Leonardo Vonanno Historical Leadership 'Boss:' *Giacomo "Jackie Horns" Caprione (1922 - 1959) (imprisoned 1930 - 1933) (hospitalized 1938 - early 1939) (imprisoned 1940 - 1950) * Acting Boss: Francis DiSelatore (1930 - 1933) *'' Acting Boss: Francis DiSelatore (1938 - 1939)'' *'' Acting Boss: Fillipo "Philly Boy" Prosto (1940 - 1941)'' *'' Acting Boss: Samuel "Sammy" Battista (1941 - 1948)'' *'' Acting Boss: Rocco "Roddy" Russafino (1948 - 1950)'' *Rocco "Roddy" Russafino (1960 - 1964) (Brought into court in 1962) * Acting Boss: Salvatore "Big Boomer" Teleme (1962) *Paolo Ostevago (1964) (forced to step down) *Salvatore "Big Boomer" Teleme (1964 - 1977) (imprisoned 1971 - 1974) *'' Acting Boss: Sandro Virite (1971 - 1974)'' *Vincent "Vinnie" Belgino (1978 - 1984) (Life Imprisonment) *John "Ginny" Lisona (1984 - 1996) *Robert "The Auditor" Caprione (1996 - present) (imprisoned 2001 - 2002) *'' Acting Boss: Niccolo Coscapola (2001 - 2002)'' 'Underboss:' *Mario Vessari (1922 - 1929) *Alfonso "Al" Accardi (1929 - 1930) *Nicodemo "Neil" Sfraldi (1930 - 1948) (Life Imprisonment) *Rino "Jackie Jr." Caprione (1948 - 1950) *Rocco "Roddy" Russafino (1950 - 1960) *David D'Aforo (1960 - 1964) (imprisoned 1963 - 1964) * Acting Underboss: Philip Nestra (1963 - 1964) *Luigi Coegerelli (1964 - 1972) *Philip Nestra (1972 - 1984) (Life Imprisonment) *Eugene "Genie" Buschella (1984 - 1989) (retired) *Frank "Frankie" Virri (1989 - present) (imprisoned 1994) (imprisoned 1997 - 1998) * Acting Underboss: Guiseppe "Zep" Accelandi (1994) * Acting Underboss: Guiseppe "Zep" Accelandi (1997 - 1998) 'Consigliere:' *Gaspare "Gus" Puletti (1922 - 1939) *Michele DiBrano (1939 - 1940) *Anthony "Tony" Gaddo (1940 - 1945) *Gino "The Fat Hen" Merlone (1945 - 1950) *Silvio "Goose" Veranzano (1950 - 1958) (imprisoned 1953-1958) *'' Acting Consigliere: Joseph "Joey" Francisco (1953 - 1958)'' *Joseph "Joey" Francisco (1958 - 1959) *Cristofano "Fanny" Pola (1959 - 1970) (Comatose in 1968, came out later that year) *'' Acting Consigliere: Gaetano "Gary" Envoila (1968)'' *Peter Orvo (1970 - 1984) (Life Imprisonment) *Louis "Lucy The Big Seat" Ginore (1984 - 1992) (Life Imprisonment) *Giovanni "Clowny" Ragassi (1992 - 1996) (forced to step down) *Guiseppe "Joe" Cici (1996 - present) 'Organizzatore:' *John "Black Johnny" Empiazzatore (1977 - 1990) *Vito Coranno (1990 - 2003) (retired) *Gerardo "Rudy" Allessandra (2003 - present)